“So what you’re saying is that you’re all brawns and no brains.” Spencer Noble snorted and chuckled to himself.
Esme had recognized Spencer, Mary Ann Kennedy, and Kaylin Bridges immediately. Spencer’s family owned a high-end hotel chain, Mary Ann was a reality television star, and Kaylin was one of the top highest paid actresses in Hollywood. All three of them were in the gossip magazines imported from the U.S. constantly.
Spencer continued to make light of the situation. He’d woken up and assumed he had an alcohol-related delusion. He’d been no help at all. Case in point, he mimicked an ape by making his neck small, puffing his chest and flinging his arms out while he walked in a small circle. “Me don’t know constellations, but me can fight, fight, fight.”
Mary Ann, from her spot on the ground close to Spencer, giggled into her hand. It was clear that she’d either been going to or coming from a party when she was taken. She had on a silver mini-dress that shimmered and sparkled under the starry night.
Even though Ben hadn’t made a move toward the duo, Esme laid a hand on Ben’s arm in hopes to dissuade him from punching Spencer. “Don’t pay him any mind.”
They weren’t friends, heck, she didn’t know him, but Ben seemed to be the only one trying to make sense of the situation and find a way out of it too.
Ben lowered his head and scanned the tree line. “The ramblings of idiots don’t bother me, Esme. They’re usually the first to die.”
“What did you just say?” Spencer whirled on Ben with tight fists. Spencer’s face had gone from semi-handsome to mean and ugly within seconds.
To his credit, Ben didn’t make a move. Esme was glad she wouldn’t need to hold Ben back, as big as he was, she wasn’t sure if she could.
Spencer pointed and glared at Ben. “Are you threatening me? My father and his friends will eat you up and spit you out!”
“Your collar is flashing orange,” Esme said to Spencer. “What does that mean?”
“It probably means ‘settle down, boy’,” Danny said lazily. He’d found a place to sit against one of the surrounding trees and picked his nails. “I run into dudes like you all the time. Your family has money, so you think that you’re better than everyone else when you’re really a pathetic loser.” Danny nodded toward Ben. “He’s right. In situations like this, dudes like you die first.”
“So now you’re threatening me too?” Spencer sputtered.
Danny’s lips curled into a smile.
Mary Ann pulled Spencer down to sit next to her. He grumbled about lawsuits and bodyguards under his breath while Mary Ann whispered in his ear. Whatever she said made Spencer chuckle.
Esme rolled her eyes. She’d had a few run-ins with men like Spencer too. They often yelled and threatened violence to overcompensate for their shortcomings. He wouldn’t bring anything helpful to the situation. Men like him didn’t solve their problems. They usually relied on others to do it for them.
Min-Seo Pak ignored both Spencer and Mary Ann. “And what do you mean, ‘situation like this’?”
Min was a petite Asian woman who appeared very out of place in the middle of the wilderness. Her short bob was cut so severely that Esme guessed only someone with an A-type personality would feel comfortable with a haircut like that. Min was also the only person wearing a business suit.
“Kidnapped. Taken. Whatever you want to call it,” Payton Cole said as she used her knife to carve on a heavy stick. Her grey and white Pitbull, Jack sat protectively at her side.
When everyone else had gone around and willingly provided their names, Payton had been the only one who’d been less than forthcoming. It had taken a lot of prodding to even get a first name out of her.
“Obviously we’ve got some hunger games shit going on here,” Payton continued. “Some of us are planners. Some are doers. Some can’t fight their way out of a cardboard box. And some are too stupid to realize what danger they’re in.” She looked up long enough to glare at Spencer. Her dark eyes sparkled with annoyance. Then she glanced down to finish carving the ends of her sticks into fine points. “My money is on Richie Rich here to die first.”
“W-we’re going to die?” Tears rolled down Miranda’s face, and she clutched her children closer.
Esme shot Hunger Games Payton a glare and made her way to sit next to Miranda. If Esme had to guess she would peg them as the same age and probably the same height. The only difference between the two was Miranda’s fair skin compared to Esme’s darker tone, and Miranda’s body was a little rounder where it counted.
Esme put her arm over Miranda’s trembling shoulders. “Hopefully no one will die. If we work together, we’ll get out of here. All of us.”
“Hey, I’m all for being optimistic,” Yesenia Wilkerson said. She held onto the collar around her neck. “But there’s no denying these. Spencer’s collar is back to normal. But we don’t know how this works or what they’re for. Maybe they track our emotions or something?”
Kaylin lifted her arm to show the one-inch wide silver band around her wrist. “We also don’t know the reason for these funky wristbands.”
Esme glanced at the band on her wrist. Same as the collar, the band didn’t have an obvious release or a seam in the design. It had separate squared out sections with icons she didn’t recognize. If it were a watch or something comparable the different icons might be for counting steps, the time or other notifications.
“I don’t know about the collars. But maybe these are smartwatches?” Kaylin studied her arm and fidgeted with the wristband.
“Not any smartwatch I’ve seen.” Danny tried to force the band from his wrist then finally gave up with a grunt. “These things are not meant to come off. Well, not by us at least.”
“I think it may be counting down or counting up to something,” Min said as she studied hers.
Esme tried to make sense of the fast-moving characters in one section of the wristband. “How can you tell?”
Min raised her petite shoulder. Her business jacket slid down her arm, revealing tan skin. “I don’t know. Just a gut feeling.”
“I think she may be right.” Ben frowned and twisted his band. “I can’t read it. I don’t know what any of these icons mean. But this right here,” he tapped his band, “is the only thing that’s changing and I think the same characters keep coming up. Like a cycle.” He turned his attention to the real watch on his other wrist. “We should try to figure out how often the same character comes up. Compare it on a regular watch. It might be helpful in the future.”
Miranda raised her hand. “I-I can do that. It’ll give me busy work and keep my mind focused on anything else besides…”
Ben gave her a nod. “Do you need a watch? I mean, one that we know how to read and work?”
Miranda shook her head and raised her other arm. “I have my own. I got it from a second-hand shop. It’s cheap, but it’ll do.”
“Okay, we’re working on at least one problem. Now let’s try to figure out the rest of this. Whoever took us didn’t strip us of our belongings. We still have our cell phones.” Ben indicated his head toward Esme and Miranda’s direction. “Purses and diaper bags.”
Min held up a well-used duffle bag. “Gym bag.”
Yesenia patted her white grocery bags. “Booze and snacks.”
Ben nodded his affirmation. “And I still have my knife strapped to my thigh.”
“But why let us keep our things? That would seem cumbersome,” Esme said.
“This could mean that they’re not worried about us using anything we have against them,” Ben offered.
“Or to call the police.” Yesenia held up her phone. “I’m not getting any service out here.”
“I suggest you all go through your purses and bags and try to find anything that could be useful for survival,” Ben said.
“But how are we going to divide up the food?” Miranda asked in a squeaky voice. “The last thing I remember is being on my way to my mom’s house. I only brought enough snacks for the bu
s ride there. That’s going to be okay for a little while, but if we’re here for more than a day, I’ll have crying kids on my hands.”
“I don’t have much.” Yesenia sorted through the items in her bags. “No real groceries, but I do have some snacks. I was getting ready for a girls-night of watching the Scandal finale. I have two bags of chips, dip and a bottle of vodka and orange juice.” She pulled the vodka from her bag. “On second thought, this is turning out to be one helluva night. I might need to keep this for myself.”
“I was walking Jack,” Payton said. “I had his leash wrapped around my wrist a few times, so he was close to my side.”
“I was leaving work late. I was in the parking garage. The last thing I remember is getting my gym bag out of my trunk,” Min said.
“On my way to a fundraiser,” Mary Ann held up her designer clutch. “I was leaving my apartment to go downstairs to meet the driver. I’m bummed that I didn’t make it. This dress alone cost fifteen thousand dollars.” She fingered the gaudy diamond necklace that stood out against her collar. “At least the kidnappers didn’t steal this. My father would’ve killed me.”
Kaylin waved a hand over her clothes. “Jogging. All I had with me was pepper spray stuffed in my bra.” She shook her head and slumped. “And I thought I wouldn’t need my security team with me.”
“I was sleeping on the couch,” Spencer grumbled. “If I’d been out like you guys I would’ve had a wallet full of cash or credit cards. At least I’d have something useful to buy myself out of this situation.”
“I was sleeping on my tour bus.” Danny patted himself down. “I don’t have a damn thing on me.”
“I was taking a nap too,” Ben said. “Otherwise I might’ve had something more useful than a knife on me.”
“The last thing I remember was walking up my front steps, holding my purse and house keys,” Esme said.
“Wait. Back-up. Did you say that you were getting ready for a Scandal watch party?” Kaylin asked Yesenia.
Yesenia nodded. The waist-length braids she wore followed the movement of her head. “Last night, Thursday.” Her smooth brown features frowned in consternation. “I was walking home from the corner store around seven thirty.”
“Yesterday wasn’t Thursday,” Min said. “I got taken on a Monday. Monday’s are my late nights at work.”
Esme frowned. “It was a Friday for me.”
Ben lifted a shoulder. “I was in the mountains so long that my days were running together. I don’t know when they got me. Whoever ‘they’ are.”
“So we all weren’t taken the same day?” The knot already in Esme’s stomach had grown bigger and tighter. “What did they do to us while they were rounding up everyone?”
A hushed silence fell over the group. Esme’s thoughts immediately ran to the nefarious. She didn’t want to think about what had been done to her while she slept.
“Well, I for one am tired of this crap. No one can keep me here against my will. I’m out.” Spencer pushed to stand then trotted through the trees, disappearing within the dark brush.
“We should stick together,” Ben yelled after him.
Mary Ann and Kaylin stood and watched him leave. “I-I think he has a point,” Mary Ann said. “I don’t want to stay here anymore.”
“Wait. Do we have a choice in the matter?” Min asked.
“We’ve been sitting around talking but what about just leaving?” Kaylin shrugged.
Ben held up a hand. “It looks like the sun will be coming up soon. We should wait until then to send scouting teams out. It’s dark, and we don’t know where we are, meaning it’ll be easy for us to get lo—”
Spencer’s high-pitched scream broke through the night, silencing everyone. Esme’s breath caught in her throat. It wasn’t the type of sound that she would run toward. It was a sound she would’ve run from. Which she wanted to, as fast as her legs would carry her.
She glanced around, taking her cue from everyone else. No one moved. Everyone waited.
Shuffling sounded, closer and closer. Spencer staggered into view. He stopped and leaned heavily against a tree, breathing hard and labored.
“What happened?” Ben asked.
“These are shock collars.” Spencer grabbed his. “There’s a marker a little ways off. Try to pass it, and it’ll feel like you’re being cooked alive from the inside out.”
Kaylin and Mary Ann rushed over to help him sit and leaned Spencer against a tree. Reluctantly Yesenia let him take a swig of her vodka.
“You said there was a marker before you got shocked?” Ben asked Spencer.
Spencer swallowed hard then used his forearm to wipe a sheen of sweat from his forehead. “Yeah, big orange sticks in the ground. When I got close to it, my collar buzzed, and when I tried to pass, I was shocked.”
Ben scrubbed a hand down his face and stopped at his chin. “We’re meant to stay in this area. We’ve been corralled.”
Esme’s shoulders deflated. She could only deal with so much at one time. She thought she was mentally strong, but with one revelation after the next she was going to lose it.
“So we know what the collars are for,” Esme said under her breath. “Now to figure out the wristband and what this thing behind our ear is.”
She fingered the small raised indentation behind her ear. It was a half-inch in diameter and round, hardly noticeable. Maybe that was why her skull throbbed as bad as it did?
“Well, I can tell you what I think it is,” Min said. Everyone turned toward her. “If you all aren’t fluent in Hangeul, then I’m assuming this is a translator.”
“Hangeul?” Esme asked.
“It’s my language. I was taken from Seoul, South Korea.”
Danny let out a hard exhale. “This situation is getting crazier and crazier.”
“I just assumed we were still in Mexico.” Everyone turned to look at Esme. “That’s where I live.”
“Wait.” Miranda held up both hands and looked as though she would throw up. “We aren’t in Ireland anymore?”
“And everyone already knows I was in Afghanistan,” Ben added.
“Well, hell.” Yesenia gave everyone a confused look. “I knew right away I wasn’t in Brooklyn the second I woke up.”
Ben tilted his head back and glanced at the sky. “And it just got crazier-er.”
Esme turned to where Ben watched. The sun was beginning to rise. But instead of blue or white clouded skies, the sky was painted in dark purple and soft pink. The sun also seemed closer and more prominent than it should’ve been. Someone gasped, and Esme turned. Another planet, a swirl of pastels, loomed over them, large and imposing.
“What in the actual hell?”
“Wherever we are, it’s not on Earth,” Danny whispered.
Chapter Three
Xrez, Head of House Ym’ihla, Dar’E from the planet Pi Vesna, sat at his father’s desk…correction, his desk now and thrummed his claws against the smooth, cold surface. The constant click, click, click soothed him. If the noise bothered Bradliix, the Nami sitting across from Xrez, he didn’t show it. By now Bradliix should’ve been use to the sound of clicking claws. It was a habit Xrez had picked up from his father, Osazo.
Xrez hadn’t yet organized or made sense of the items on the old desk. Everything was as his father had left it. There were disks piled neatly on one side. Osazo had been in the process of reviewing them, or else they would’ve been stored in one of the compartments in the desk or securely locked away for safe keeping. Osazo had been fiercely protective about his business affairs and matters.
The keyboard attached to the desk was well worn, with the paint on some of the characters barely visible. Osazo had spent a lot of time in his office. The keyboard wasn’t the only indicator of that. After his mate had died, Osazo had spent more and more time away from their family home and on Turolois.
Turolois was the small planet where the business that had been in his family for generations was conducted. The Hunt had been Osazo’s life s
ince it’d been passed down from his father. It wasn’t a surprise that when he no longer had a mate to go home to, he’d eventually stop going to Pi Vesna all together.
The office contained a closet full of Osazo’s clothes, a bathing chamber as well as a sleeping room. The doors leading to all three were closed tightly. Xrez hadn’t been able to bring himself to go through those personal items yet. It was hard enough to look around the office and see constant reminders of a father he would never lay eyes on again. After Xrez got acclimated to the business at hand, he planned to devote time to the more personal tasks.
Xrez had been on Turolois since the morning and had spent most of the day advised by Bradliix on items requiring his immediate attention. Osazo’s death, while expected eventually, had still come as a surprise to everyone. Sufferers of the pertinax virus had a life expectancy of seven years after diagnosis.
Osazo, of course, could’ve been cured with one dose of medication, but he had declined the cure. Like many of the elderly Dar’E who had outlived their mates, Osazo had wanted to live out the rest of his life without medical intervention. He’d wanted to meet his mate in the spiritual world.
Xrez had been away on business when he’d received the news. He’d left the asteroid his private company had been mining and headed straight to the death ceremony, a day-long celebration of Osazo’s life followed by his cremation and the guiding of his spirit to the afterworld. He’d spent some time with his younger sister Chaeya and handled his father’s business affairs on his home planet, dividing his father’s wealth between his and Chaeya’s accounts and transferring the property into her name. He had no use for the family estate he’d spent his childhood in. Chaeya and her mate were expecting their first child and would put better use to it than he would.
After two emotional days, he’d found himself back on Turolois, a place he hadn’t visited in almost four years. The weight of it all had finally caught up to him. He was tired and irritable.
The Game Warden's Mate: An Alien Abduction Romance (The Hunt Book 1) Page 2
